Thursday, September 24, 2015

Veni, Vici, Eat-i

This blog post is all about all the things Jordan and I did right and healthfully on our trip to Chicago.

LOLZ...we ate our way through that windy city. And it was delicious.

Seriously, could he be any cuter? I love my pizza-eatin' hottie.

I started planning this post before we even left; I had it in my head that I'd do a fancy graphic where in one column, I'd list all the things we did right and in the other column what we could have done better at.

Again, LOLZ.

Suffice it to say, there is one column that would end up being real short. In fact, here you go, what we did right:

1) walked our butts off

2) threw away our some donut leftovers (uh...because we ordered two each and couldn't eat anymore)

You can tell I'm judging myself in the Firecakes photo (bottom right). In other news, the Intelligentsia black cat soy mocha I had (on left) was one of the best coffee concoctions of my life.

What was different is that Jordan and I didn't eat with abandon (I know...slow clap for deferring full-on gluttony). But before we started our plan it wasn't at all unusual for us to over order, over imbibe, or eat past "full." We actually really thought about what we were ordering which benefited our wallets as much as our waistlines.

Another cause of our overdoing it when we used to go out? The "clean your plate" mentality. I think it's natural, after spending a little more than usual on dinner to try to eat every bite. Now, it feels kind of wasteful but we're learning that over stuffing ourselves doesn't mean we get a bigger bang for our buck, it means we get a stomachache. And speaking of stomachaches, they were nearly constant on the trip. I had one every single day we were there and they'd come in waves; Jordo would be fine then I'd feel like crumb. He'd feel crummy and I'd be fine. Was it worth it? I'm not gonna lie, kinda.

But.

It also made us homesick for our healthy eating routine; when we're on plan we have no digestive issues whatsoever between us. Our tummies (and systems) are happy, we sleep well, and we have energy when we're en pointe and I really did miss those things while we traveled.

In my stats corner at the beginning of this post, you might notice that my numbers are not headed in the right direction. I'm sad and pretty embarrassed that I'm no longer in the 200s club but I'll be back soon because I'm not messing around anymore. I'm getting back on track which means lots of water, food tracking on MyFitnessPal, and frankly a lot of deprivation. By that I mean deprivation of the kinds of foods I crave, not going hungry as the plan keeps me nice and full.

When I went in for my weigh in yesterday one of the gals explained to me that I gained so much because feeding the body carbs, sugars and fats causes it to store those calories away instead of using them up like the good foods we typically eat. Not only that but cravings return full force once you indulge. Which means getting back on track sucks.

The thing I'm learning about getting back on track is ease back into a healthy routine and be kind to yourself. This is where I would fail on past efforts to lose weight; every time I got off track I'd throw in the towel. I have to accept the sort of 80/20 rule of healthy eating 80% of the time and enjoying myself the other 20%. Eating in real life includes vacations, weddings, holidays—the memorable points in our lives are often accompanied by food. Food is a good thing and I love how it brings us together whether feasting in big loud groups or in quiet couplings over a candlelight. Jordan and I had a blast licking greasy cheesy Garrett's off our fingers, sipping cocktails at The Violet Hour, discovering new tastes on a Chinatown food tour, and letting our eyes roll in the ecstasy of Bavette's chocolate pie but we're also happy being back and encouraging each other to return to healthy habits.

Bye Chicago and thanks for the delicious memories!

P.S. THANK YOU for the supportive and overwhelmingly kind response to my last post! I received the most lovely personal messages from others who have been in similar situations or have felt isolated by "the burden of being big" as I term it—your vulnerability is beautiful and so are you.

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About Me

The Megnificent Miles

The "Megnificent Miles" reference the proverbial distance I have to go to reach my goal of attaining a healthy weight. Lao Tzu said "a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step." This blog is my first step on what will be a long quest and I'm not stopping until I get there.